The Day a School Bus Almost Ended It

Ten years ago today marks the day I was hit by a school bus on my motorcycle. And while I still suffer from the injuries of that day, I am still improving and have many things to be thankful for. Since that fateful day, I have accomplished the following:

1. Started my own business with the woman of my dreams, which we still successfully run today.
2. I married that woman of my dreams.
3. I started a family with that woman of my dreams. She gave me the daughters of my dreams.
4. I began vigorously pursuing my passion for adventure. I’m happy to say I have been all over America and many parts of the world with plans to continue exploring our beautiful planet.

What happened you ask?

I was on my way to work in Clearwater Florida riding my motorcycle down Drew Street (at the speed limit) and a school bus coming the opposite direction made a left turn right in front of me as I was entering the intersection of Highland and Drew. I slammed on the brakes and slid the rear end to the left to drop down but I didn’t make it. I slammed into the back of the bus just behind the rear wheel with my left arm extended. Despite having no recollection of it, I was told I answered every question asked with no hesitation, giving answers that even today I would have to look up to give correct information. It was as if all medically crucial information was at the forefront of my mind, and yet I don’t recall a moment of it. The next moment I do recall however was not being able to breathe, suffocating and going into a seizure. As my lungs burned for oxygen and everything faded away my final thoughts were, Jade will be ok, it’s not so bad to die. I woke suddenly with extreme pain, unable to speak or see with someone poking my broken ribs, explaining to a student how to stab between my ribs and insert a chest tube to re-inflate my lung. As soon as that needle went in and pressure was released, I felt a sudden relief and passed back out. The rest, as they say, is surgery. When I next came to, I was intubated and seeing my fiancé’s worried face at the foot of my bed in ICU. The first thing I did was point at my massively bandaged leg and give her a thumbs down. Then I pointed at my crotch and gave her a thumbs up, completely unaware that I had a massive catheter in there.

The laundry list

For those of you who don’t know, the laundry list of injuries were:

• Ruptured spleen
• Ruptured kidney
• Ruptured and collapsed lung
• 5 broken ribs
• Broken clavicle
• Broken scapula
• Fractured pelvis all the way across
• Compound fracture of the tibia
• And 2 breaks in the fibula

Later I was told by the officer on the scene that I left a handprint in that part of the bus, but I was told by the school district’s attorneys that I was not allowed to have that piece of the bus.

The next year

The next year of convalescence would test my resolve. Starting out, a dear friend let us use her house as I was unable to get into and use my house. As my body healed I went through multiple stages. Starting out, I was completely incapacitated in bed and my wife had to move my body and bathe me, despite our 70lb difference. Then I was bound to a wheelchair with multiple people having to help me move my body into and out of vehicles. Then came the cane, sadly I was unable to provide any beatings with this cane… months later, I was hobbling without the cane and retraining my body to walk. All of this has led me to much larger appreciation of life and its beauties large and small.

The silver lining

I realize I’ve painted a pretty grim picture so far, so let me leave you somewhere better, because there really is a silver lining to all of this. That accident threw me so far out of my comfort zone that it turned me into an entrepreneur. For most of my life I figured being an entrepreneur was for OTHER people, the ones with the good ideas. I wasn’t one of them. But it turns out that every time I’ve hit some kind of financial disaster, I circle right back to entrepreneurship and figure that shit out. Getting hit by a bus was just the first and biggest shove. The rest of the report is all good news. My marriage is doing extremely well, my wife is my best friend in the whole world. The family is doing extremely well, and the woman of my dreams and the daughters of my dreams are still the best part of every day. Honestly, I’m just happy I survived, because as long as I’m still here, this whole thing can be a whole lot of fun. Even if I do get a little cranky sometimes. Just ask my wife.